Stonnington Council slammed for ineffective child safety gate installed at Windsor Siding Park
Melbourne’s latest council fail has been exposed at an inner east playground where a gate has been installed which kids can easily just stroll around in what has been called a “glaring error of judgment”.
Inner East
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An inner city council has been left red-faced after it installed a child safety gate at a Windsor park which can easily be bypassed by youngsters.
Stonnington Council installed the gate as part of its latest $300,000 set of upgrades to the Windsor Siding Park, which started in June.
It was placed at an entry point to a playground at the park on Union St and was mandatory as part of the design.
But images of the gate - which cost $1232 - show visitors can easily walk around it by squeezing through gaps between wooden stakes nearby.
Stonnington spokesman Jim Carden said the council had been made aware of the issue and the gate appeared to be “redundant”.
He said the council would rectify the issue by putting plants and hedging in the gaps.
“Obviously the gaps in the adjoining ‘fence’ would appear to make the gate a bit redundant, so we have been looking at how to tidy it up without losing what is a nice design,” Mr Carden said.
Ratepayers Stonnington president Dean Hurlston was sent the pictures by resident and election candidate Adam Kopf and shared them on social media.
Mr Hurlston said the gate issue resembled “an episode of (ABC comedy) Utopia”.
“Surely council staff or contractors can see the glaring error of judgment,” he said.
“It’s another example of council being out of touch with responsible spending and execution of projects.
“It’s a good concept which has totally failed upon delivery.”
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